Red Ace is a young colt who dreams of becoming a Pokémon Master. He must overcome great obstacles with the help of his friends and his Pokémon. Though he does realize this is going to be harder then it sounds
Red Ace may act like a wisecracker, but he is dedicated to his dream. Since he was four years old, he has had his eye on one prize. The Equestrian league championship.
Before he gets there, he will have to face eight powerful Gym Leaders...
His equally skilled Rivals...
And the sinister Team Chaos.
Star will be there to snark his way through it.
An homage/parody of the Pokémon games. Using an OC as the Trainer and company, and Canon ponies as other characters.
He was far from obsessed with getting his Cutie Mark, but he thought he'd have it by now. He had been doing some work around Professor Sparkle's lab, and he was loving it! He loved working with Pokemon, he met his best friend there, and he learned more about Pokemon science and care then he would ever learn anywhere else! But still... He was still in Spectrum City.
Oh, he loved his hometown, but he wanted to travel. Get a Pokemon of his own. Visit new cities, meet new Pokemon.
He even thought about entering the Equestrian Pokemon League Challenge, but dismissed the thought. What chance would he have? He would have to face eight of the most powerful ponies to ever pick up a PokeBall. Then he would have to face the Elite Four, and he didn't even want to think about what that would mean... No. A trainer's life was out of reach for him.
Still... A colt could dream.
Dreaming would have to wait however... Twilight Sparkle had called him to the lab to ask for a favor.
Ace walked in to see complete blackness. Scattered candles were being used by some of the aides, the Professor was emitting a dim purple glow with her horn. Ace walked up to her and stared directly into her eyes. They stood in silence, each with an exhausted look on their face.
"There's a problem with the electricity," they said in unison.
"I can see that, yes," Ace said looking around him. "Well it's not an outage. I just came from my place and it's fine. Why aren't we using the Voltorb, Prof?"
"We tried," said Professor Sparkle dryly. "All of their power keeps getting drained. Every time we go down to check the fuse box however, we can see it's been tampered with, but the vandal is gone. Then we get the lights back on for about ten minutes, then they go out again."
"Why call me?" Ace asked.
"You seem to have a way of finding creative solutions to problems," Twilight said. "I wondered if you could think of anything that we hadn't..."
Ace looked around him again and smiled when he caught sight of Twilight's Pokemon. "You could always leave it like this," he joked. "Owlicious seems to be enjoying himself."
"Hoothoot!" cried the Pokemon on the desk.
"Owlicious is a Hoothoot, idiot!" came a voice from the darkness. "Of course he likes the dark!"
Down the stairs came Crystal Ball. Crystal was a filly around Ace's age, and his best friend. She had a deep blue coat and a long purple mane and tail. She had piercing eyes that looked like she could see right through you. She had gotten her Cutie Mark less than a month ago. It was a purple sphere with an eye in the center of it.
She had an almost Psychic ability to understand the needs of Pokemon. She could almost speak to them. She learned this when she met her first Pokemon. She had protected a lost Abra from some poachers. Two freaks who wore shirts that had black C's on the chests. These guys were kidnapping wild and owned Pokemon alike. Using some quick thinking she was able to side-tackle the two and get away with the lost Pokemon. The Abra followed her home, and her parents let her keep it.
Her Abra (which she named TeeKay) was following her down the stairs. "Abra...," it said scornfully.
"Hi Crystal," said Ace dryly. "Any chance of you cutting me a break tonight?"
"Not on your life!" Krystal laughed. "Listen, Ace. You better think of something. Because quite frankly I'm out of ideas...,"
"You're out of ideas?" Ace laughed. "Prof? Can I get a recorder, so I can play that back to myself on a constant loop?"
"Now now...," Twilight scorned.
"Oh, will you just think of something?!" Crystal pouted.
"I already have," Ace laughed. He turned and called out to the rest of the lab. "Okay, does anypony have an Electric type with some juice left? Anything at all will do. I just need to time something..."
One of the aides cautiously raised his hand. There was a flash and a Joltik walked up to the Professor and her two young students. Ae was suddenly worried. He didn't want to hurt the cute little thing. "Hey Crys...," he turned to Crystal. "Make sure that the little guy knows what he's getting into. I'm sort of using him as bait. He might feel pretty drained after this..."
Crystal sat down and whispered to the Pokemon for a moment. The Joltik nodded happily. "He gets it... But I don't. What's your plan?"
"We're going to hook this little fella up to the generators, and once something starts sapping his power, Teekay is going to port us down. That way we'll catch him in the act!" Ace explained. "You do know Teleport, don't you buddy?"
"Abra...," Teekay said dryly. Ace didn't need Crystal to translate that to "Are Jigglypuff pink?".
"Good!" he turned to to the little volunteer. "You ready Joltik?"
"Joltik!" the Pokemon squeaked brightly.
The small spider Pokemon hopped into the chamber normally reserved for Voltorb, and charged the chamber as high as it would go.
The lights came on, and began to dim.
Teekay teleported Ace and Crystal to the basement.
Three sinister figures watched from the hill above the lab. Well... one sinister figure, and two that could charitably be described as "goon shaped."
The two lackeys were scoping out Twilight's Pokemon Lab meticulously, as they were ordered to report when the lights came back on. Something penetrated the first henchman's thick skull, and he managed to ask a question.
"How come the Light's keep comin' on and then goin' off again, eh?" asked the skinnier of the two. "Aren't we supposed to go in when they come on?"
"Would you be quiet?!" shouted the stouter of the two. "This is all part of our great Admin's plan!... Uh... What is our plan, great Admin?"
The blue unicorn let out a heavy exasperated sigh. "Must the Admin explain everything to her lowly Peons? Once they find the little Spark Plug, they'll bring him straight to Professor Sparkle. Once I have my hands on Twilight Sparkle, I will extract the information the Boss needs from her. I. E. the location of experiment #150. Once we have found the errant Experiment..." She let out an evil smile. "We'll be able to further the Boss's plan."
"Right!" said the Stout one. "And then we'll take over the world!"
"Ahaha...." The skinny one let out a dumb laugh. "And we're gonna get somethin' real good afterwards, right?"
"Of course, Snails," said the Admin condescendingly. "You and Snips get to share a pleasure that will be had by many others...
"Serving Team Chaos," she smiled. "And the Great and Powerful TRRRRIXIE!"
The two foals were not expecting to see what they saw when they came down to the basement.
What looked like a furry yellow egg with arms and legs was sitting in front of the fuse box. Two wires were tied to the outlet-prong like horns on the top of its head. It was pumping current into itself, and it seemed to enjoy it rather a lot. It had black markings that wrapped around it's waist. It had yet to notice the team.
"Is that...," said Crystal quietly. "An Elekid?"
Ace nodded. That's what it was alright. Elekid were rare to say the least. Usually you could only get one via breeding. But here one was large as life and obviously wild. He thought he saw something blinking on his back... But that would have to come later.
The two colts stepped out of the shadows. "Alright, the jig is up," Ace said firmly.
The Elekid whipped around and saw them. He panicked and tried to make a break for it. He was immediately blocked by Teekay, who stared straight at him, arms crossed and tapping his foot.
The Elekid slumped over and slowly turned to Ace. He held out his wrists as if waiting to be cuffed. "Elekid...," he said somberly.
Crystal fixed the fuse box, and Ace knelt down to the Pokemon. "Okay buddy," he said quietly. "We have to take you to the Prof. It'll be alright. She's a really nice mare.
"Oh my gosh...," the Professor said quickly. She always got overexcited when there was something new to study. "A wild Elekid. Such a rare specimen! I don't even know where to begin..."
"Kid...," grumbled the Pokemon, sitting cross-armed on the desk. "Elekid..."
"He was gorging himself on energy," said Crystal. "He was binge eating our electricity. Why?" She urged Teekay to go and talk to the Elekid.
They seemed to have a heated conversation. Then Teekay turned back to his trainer and stared at her intensely. "Oh...," she said, obviously receiving telepathic information from her Abra. "Oh that's terrible! You poor thing!"
She went to hug Elekid. This startled the Pokemon, and caused him to send an electric shock through Crystal. She ended up on the floor, slightly charred.
"Hey!" said Ace, amused and upset by this at the same time. "As funny as that was, you do not shock her unless I say it's okay. Get it?"
The Elekid looked up at Ace, looked down in shame and slowly nodded. Taking in a sharp sniff.
"Don't you dare yell at him!" Crystal said, suddenly upright and still smoking. "He's been through a lot!"
"Alright! Alright!" Ace said defensively.
"What exactly has the little guy been through?"
"Apparently...," Crystal began. "He was hit on the back of the head and woke up outside of the lab completely drained of energy. He needed the electricity or else he would have died. So he had to stock up on as much as he could so it wouldn't happen again... The poor guy has been separated from his herd for a while now... He's been all on his own." She looked at the Elekid with tears in her eyes. Ace knew that that was the "keep the fuzzy thing warm" instinct kicking in. It was something he liked about her, and something he benefited from in the past.
"Let her hug you," Ace smiled at Elekid. "Trust me, it helps."
Crystal didn't wait for a response before throwing her arms around the Pokemon. Elekid looked startled, then defeated. Shooting a desperate look at Ace.
"Well!" Twilight said. "At least that's over! You're welcome to stay here if you would like Elekid. We have perfect facilities for feeding and caring for Pok-"
She was interrupted by the Laboratory doors bursting open.
The doorway framed the silhouettes of three unicorns. Two stallions, one stocky, one skinny, and a mare. The Mare stood in the center.
"Ahahaha!" she laughed a shrill, over dramatic laughed. "At last the great Trixie's plan has come to perfect fruition! The famed Professor Twilight Sparkle, former Pokemon Geneticist, and storied Pokemon Researcher has been trapped in her lab by such unwilling bait as this feeble Elekid! Surrender! For you cannot hope to face the wrath of Team Chaos, and the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
There was a silence in the laboratory, that was finally broken by Red Ace. "Okay...," he said, barely containing his laughter. "Who is the Great and Powerful Trixie, and why is she such a ham?"
"A ham?!" Trixie scoffed offended. "Snails! Take care of him! No one insults any performance of mine and lives!"
The Skinnier of the two stallions took out a Dusk Ball from his belt. "Skorupi! Get'im!"
"Rupiiiiii!" The scorpion Pokemon made straight for Ace. Stinger at the ready.
"Not a chance! Come on Teekay!" Crystal shouted at her Abra. "Use Hidden Power!"
"Block it, Sneasel!" cried the stocky stallion.
The Dark type Pokemon took Teekay's hit full in the face. Psychic attack against Dark type. It didn't leave a scratch.
And then something happened that Red Ace can't explain to this day.
In a flash of what must have been pure instinct, Ace moved forward and called out "Elekid! Thunderpunch! Give Teekay some room to breathe!" And to his surprise, Elekid obeyed. Leaping forward and nailing the Sneasel in the chest with an electrified fist, knocking it back several feet.
Ace stood awestruck, unsure of what had just happened. But he knew one thing, he liked it. He was able to communicate with the Elekid in a way that he hadn't been able to do with a Pokemon before. He looked at Elekid, and smiled. Together they could stop these people from... Actually, what exactly were they doing? He'd have to ask them later...
"Alright, Elekid!" Ace smiled. "I've never done this before, but I'm ready if you're with me!"
"Kid!" Elekid smiled back. They were ready.
On Red Ace's flank appeared the mark of a red diamond surrounding a Master Ball.
His destiny was set.
Team Chaos Grunt Snips and Team Chaos Grunt Snails Want to Battle!
Ace and Crystal squared off with the two henchmen. Teekay and Elekid prepared themselves for a fight.
"Ace!" called Crystal. "You know how this works right?"
Ace was a little irritated at the question. "I've been watching tourneys since I was, like, three," he said dryly. "Yes, I know how a Pokemon battle works."
"Each Pokemon has at least four basic attacks...," Crystal went on.
"Yes, I know," Ace sighed.
"Each move has a 'type,'" Crystal went on. "There are eighteen types of Pokemon..."
"Crys, you know I grew up here...," Ace said, growing concerned. "You were there... You were there when I first learned this..."
"Each type has it's own strengths and weaknesses," Crystal went on, unswayed. "For example, Elekid is an Electric type. So..."
"I KNOW!" Ace shouted. "What in Celestia's name is wrong with you? Do you have some sort of brain disorder that forces you to give tutorials on things I already know?!"
"I'm sorry!" Crystal shouted. "You're inexperienced and it's MY little Teekay out there! I wanna be sure you got it!"
"I got it!" Ace turned to Snips and Snails. "And why are you two just standing there?! Aren't you guys supposed to be trying to kill us?!"
Snips and Snails looked at each other. "Maybe we should have attacked while the girl was talking, eh?" said Snails.
Trixie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Idiots...," she muttered before heading straight for Twilight.
"Prof!" Ace called out.
"Professor Twilight used to be a trainer," Crystal explained. "She can handle herself. Right now we have to deal with these clowns!"
"Right!" Ace smiled. He surveyed the battlefield. Double Battle. His side had Elekid and Teekay, they had Skorupi and Sneasel. Crystal and Teekay could take care of the Skorupi without issue, but the Sneasel could be a problem. He was Elekid's target.
"Elekid!" Ace called out. "Quick Attack!"
Elekid responded and the speed was blinding. Within the blink of an eye, Elekid was behind Sneasel. He grabbed his opponent from behind and slammed him into the ground.
"Teekay!" said Crystal "Calm Mind!"
Teekay sat and meditated in the middle of the battlefield.
Is she insane?! Ace thought. She's leaving herself exposed!
"Sneasel!" called Snips. "Pursuit! Ignore the spark plug and get that Abra!"
Sneasel zoomed toward TK, a dark energy surrounding him. Dark versus Psychic was not a good match up. If Teekay took that hit head on...
Ace prepared to act when he heard a skittering behind him. "Skorupi!" called Snails. "Poison Sting while the Trainer's distracted!"
Elekid turned around to see the scorpion Pokemon barreling down on him. It was too late to act now.
"Teleport, then Barrier!" called Crystal.
In the nick of time Teekay appeared in front of Elekid conjuring a wall made of pure energy. Skorupi was flattened against it.
"Barrier?!" Ace asked shocked. "How does your Abra no Barrier?"
"I may have used some of the Professors TMs when she wasn't looking...," Crystal said innocently. "No harm done..."
Ace laughed. "Alright!" he turned back to Elekid. "Alright! Time to finish off that Sneasel!" Ace looked around for the dark type Pokemon, but he had lost track of it. "Wait... Where did it-"
"Sneasel!" called Snips. "Feint Attack!"
Sneasel appeared seemingly from nowhere and slashed Elekid across the chest. He fell back knocking Teekay over, having him lose his concentration on the Barrier. The Barrier lost cohesion and Skorupi landed its stinger right into Teekay's head. Teekay backed off the blow but rubbed at the wound and winced.
"Teekay's poisoned!" Crystal called out. "We have to finish this battle quickly! I don't have an Antidote on me."
"Of course you don't," Ace grumbled. "You're only the experienced trainer. Why would you have items on you?"
"Shut up!" Crystal yelled.
"Alright," Ace said. "Elekid, keep your eye square on Sneasel and keep Teekay out of harms way! Thunder Shock!"
"Teekay!" called Crystal. "Hidden Power! Take that Skorupi down!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....." Teekay began to glow a deep purple. Seven spheres began to orbit around it's midsection. The spheres moved up his back and down his arm, shooting of the end of it and headed straight for Skorupi.
Sneasel tried to intervene for his partner but was lit up like a Christmas tree from a jolt from Elekid. Sneasel collapsed, and when the Hidden Power landed so did Skorupi.
Snips and Snails watched their beaten and fainted Pokemon fall to the ground. For a moment, they looked afraid. Then Snips brought something up. "Hey!" he Cried. "Just because our Pokemon got beat doesn't mean we are! We're twice their size! So let's just beat him the old fashioned way!"
The two thugs advanced on the two young foals. For a moment Ace was concerned, then he caught sight of Crystal's exasperated face.
"Teekay...," Crystal sighed. "Psychic. Get them the heck out of this lab."
Teekay pointed his finger at the two thugs. Snips and Snails glowed blue and began to lift of the ground hovering in the air. It looked like they wanted to speak, but couldn't. With a flick of Teekay's finger, the two crashed through the roof and out of sight.
"And that's why that doesn't happen," Crystal smiled.
Teekay looked like he was close to collapsing from the poison. "Abraaa....."
Crystal rushed over and hugged her poisoned Pokemon. Ace looked at Elekid. "You did good out there," he smiled.
Elekid scratched the back of his head and smiled. "Kid...," he said bashfully.
"You know...," Ace started. "We don't make a bad team. I don't suppose you'd want to-"
"Elekid!" the Pokemon interrupted, obviously accepting. He ran over to hug his new trainer. Ace laughed and hugged back. The two stayed that way for a while.
"So... Adorable!" Crystal squeaked.
Remembering that they were men. Manly men. With manly thoughts. The two broke apart and very carefully didn't look at each other.
"Never mind that!" Ace said, in a voice deeper than usual "We have to go check on the Prof!"
Crystal nodded. "You're right," she turned to her Abra. "Teekay, I know you're hurt, but do you thin you can get through another battle?"
Teekay gave a weak thumbs up. "Abra!"
Hearing Teekay's name reminded Ace of something. "Oh yeah! A nickname!" Ace turned to his new Pokemon. "How does Spark Plug sound to you?"
"Really?" said Crystal dryly. "We're doing this now?"
The Elekid nodded, accepting his new name. "Elekid!" said Spark Plug.
"Perfect!" Ace beamed. "Alright Sparks! Let's get to the Professor!"
The two ran to the back of the lab.
Crystal was about to follow when she noticed the seven or so aides that also worked in the Spectrum City Pokemon Lab.
"You know," she said. "You guys could have helped..."
The battle had not gone smoothly.
The only Pokemon that Twilight had on hand was Owlicious. Trixie's Greninja had made short work of the poor thing. Then the battle took a turn when the Pokemon grabbed her by the throat and pinned her up against the wall.
A Water Shuriken was spinning in it's other hand and inching ever closer to Twilight's neck.
"I'm going to ask you again," Trixie said coldly. "Where is he?"
"Someplace you can't get to him!" Twilight choked. "After all we've done he finally has some peace! Just leave him alone!"
"You know we can't do that, Twilight," Trixie sneered. "The boss wants him back. He's our little prodigy. I wouldn't be surprised if you thought of him as a son. We need him. He's the only way we can accomplish our final goal."
Twilight's eyes widened. She knew what Team Chaos wanted. What the endgame was. She couldn't tell her anything.
Trixie looked sad. "It really is a shame Twilight," she said softly. "It hurts me to see you this stubborn."
She was about to give Greninja the final order when a yellow fuzzy fist collided with her Pokemon's head, knocking the Greninja sideways, causing her to release Twilight.
The two young trainers were standing in the doorway. Twilight was happy to see they were alright, but what were they doing here? Why didn't they go get help?
"Uh...," Ace said puzzled. "Mega Punch?"
"I don't think that was an attack," Crystal laughed. "I think your Pokemon just out and out decked him."
"Elekid!" Spark said proudly. He high fived Teekay with a smug look on his face.
Trixie gritted her teeth. "Those idiots...," she growled. "Can't deal with children! Fine if I have to deal with you myself, I wi-" She was cut off by a loud beeping.
Trixie raised a hoof to her ear and began to talk. "What is it?!" she snapped. "I'm in the middle of-" Trixie's expression shifted. "Oh... Sir I am so sorry. I didn't mean to... Yes. Yes... With all respect, how can we be sure that... Alright. Yes. Understood." She brought down her hoof. "That was your former employer Twilight," Trixie said calmly. "I'll give him your best wishes. In the meantime however I have to report back."
"Former employer...?" asked Crystal.
"Oh make no mistake," Trixie smiled. "Your little mentor has a history. Ask her about it. I don't have the time to explain now."
"Wait just a-" Ace started.
"Greninja! Smokescreen!"
There was a snap and the room was filled with smoke. After a few seconds, the smoke had cleared and Trixie and Greninja were gone.
The two young trainers looked at their teacher, both with great concern in their eyes.
".... Alright," Twilight said sadly. "She's right. It's about time I told someone."
The two trainers went home, Twilight told them she would explain everything in the morning. Ace's mother was concerned and a little surprised at the sight of an Elekid accompanying her son home. She didn't object though. Sparks seemed to get along well with her Squirtle, so it was all good. Spark Plug made it clear that he had no use for the PokeBall. Ace figured he'd just be a free walker.
He met up with Crystal outside of the lab. Her father was apparently livid. He didn't want her throwing herself into battles with criminals. Mostly however, he was just glad she was okay.
They walked in to the Lab, and met with Professor Sparkle. "Well," she said after a moment. "Where do I begin?"
"Your tragic backstory?" Ace blurted out. Crystal smacked him upside the head.
Twilight smiled. "About ten years ago," she started. "I was involved in a project that was dubbed 'New Species'. We were taking a look at the genetic structure of a certain Pokemon."
"New Species...," Crystal repeated. "You were looking at Mew?"
Twilight nodded. "You've been reading the PokeDex," she said. "I'm proud of you. Yes, we were studying Mew. We had found a fossil that we thought belonged to it. I was running some tests when... I ran out of funding. Halfway through the research I couldn't continue. I was devistated. And then I was approached..."
"Team Chaos...," Ace guessed.
Twilight looked down. "I'm not proud of it," she said sadly. "I was desperate, young, and brash. For the next three years I worked for them. Until I discovered what my research led to... I saw a sin that could never be forgiven."
"Excuse me," Ace spoke up. "But why were they here? Just to get you? There seemed to be more than that..."
Twilight smiled. "The boss didn't take my resignation well," she sighed. "I had to run. And when I did I took my sin with me. I hid him somewhere where he could live his life in peace. I've spent the last five years rebuilding my life here."
Crystal looked puzzled. "Forgive me, Professor," she began. "Team Chaos is a multimillion bit association. It has to be in order to fund your research. And assuming that the caliber of employee is more like Trixie, and less like Snips and Snails, they're a force to be reckoned with... You couldn't have gotten out of there without help..."
"I didn't," Twilight said simply. From her expression that was all she was going to say.
Ace considered all of the information given to him in the last five minutes. He wondered if it would change the way he looked at Twilight. She had been his mentor for most of his life. She taught him everything he knew about Pokemon. About life. And she had this shame in her past... And...
And he didn't.
He wasn't ashamed of anything. He wasn't proud of anything. Until last night and the battle with Snips and Snails, he had experienced nothing of note. His life had been fine, but basic. Devoid of any event or consequence. He had risked nothing. Hid nothing. Accomplished nothing. Tomorrow he would go home to his mother, wake up, go to bed and dream of nothing.
What Twilight told him did change things. It changed the way he looked at Twilight. She had lived an incredible life. She had made mistakes, and when she realized it, when it mattered, she did the right thing. She had memories, good and bad.
It was time Ace made his own.
"Prof," Ace started. "Give me my Dex."
"What?!" Crystal said shocked.
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.
"In accordance with the rules and regulations of the Equestrian Pokemon League, I am requesting my PokeDex, Badge Case, and Town Map," Ace said firmly. "Celestia knows I need the Town Map, otherwise I'm going to end up eating Spark Plug."
"Kid?!" said Spark Plug.
"I'm joking dude," Ace assured him.
"You're sure about this," Twilight asked. "I've tried the life as a Trainer. It isn't easy. You're sure you want to do this?"
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life," Ace smiled.
Twilight paused. "Alright," she smiled.
Trixie always thought it was ironic how clean the Boss's office was...
It was always so tidy and so neat. Everything was dusted, cleaned and perfectly in order. For a gang that went by the moniker "Team Chaos" it was kind of misleading. Even the Boss himself (despite his physical appearance) was always in perfect order. Well pressed suit, perfect stride, cool temper. ' But Trixie new well enough that the Boss was "chaotic" in his own way. If you asked questions you'd figure out just how true that was.
She hated this wait... Alone in the boss's office... She always wondered what he was doing that took him so long. Then she decided she really didn't want to know.
After five minutes the Boss strolled in. Trixie stood up instinctively. "Sorry I'm late!" he said cheerfully. "A bit of a workplace dispute, how are you Trixie?"
"Workplace dispute" meant somepony had died. "I'm fine, sir," Trixie said shakily. "A bit confused as to why I was pulled back from my assignment..."
"Oh that," he chuckled. "I don't think Sparkle would have given 150 up for anything. I'm sorry but that was a waste of your time and mine."
"I don't understand...," said Trixie. "Is the Prodigy Project no longer a priority?"
The Boss suddenly got very serious. "Oh no," he smirked. "Prodigy is the single most important goal Team Chaos has. It is necessary for us to reach our destination and bring him forth. So that we may wipe the lies of balance and harmony of the face of the Earth. Make no mistake, we need 150 back. We can't do this without his help."
"So...," Trixie was scared to ask the next question. "Why?"
"I'm glad you asked!" the Boss started pacing around the room. "You remember the day they escaped right? Things were very hectic. Disorganized. People were wondering what happened and who to trust. It was impossible that some things wouldn't get lost in the shuffle. On a hunch, I asked our boys to review the incident again. What they found intrigued me. You see, I thought that the only member of our personnel that went missing was Twilight Sparkle. I was wrong. It turns out that a lab aide of hers, a grunt, also ran off that day. I had her I.D. pulled up." He took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Trixie.
"I remember that Aide...," Trixie muttered as she took the card. She looked at the face on the Identification, and the name.
Then something clicked in her brain. She had seen that face. She had heard that name. And it was far more recent than five years ago. It was impossible to get away from this pony. She was probably one of the most influential trainers in the region, if not the most.
She was staring at a picture of the Champion.
"That's-!" Trixie said flabbergasted.
"I know," the Boss chuckled.
"Why?" Trixie shouted. "Why would she put herself in a position where we could find her? She had to know we would come after her! Why make herself one of the most prominent figures in the region and not even change her name?! It doesn't-"
"Make sense?" The Boss let out a long slow laugh. "Oh, Trixie...
"What fun is there in making sense?" said Discord.
Ace had spent the next night packing. His mother made him pack several changes of clothes and a few days worth of food. He would replace the clothes almost immediately, but the food was highly appreciated. She tried to convince him not to go, but she looked at Ace's brand new cutie mark and new that was impossible. She told him to be careful about 148 times, and she gave him a sheet with the phone number on it. Making it very clear that he could make the call any time he wanted to come home.
"You're sure you want to do this?" she said sadly. "It's not going to be easy..."
"I know," Ace smiled. "But it's what I want to do. It's what I need to do."
"Well, be careful..." That was 149. "Where are you headed first?"
"The Prof says there's a gym up in Ponyville," Ace answered. "I'm going to get a team together and challenge it. Mom, your son is going to become the next Equestrian League Champion."
Ace's mother gave a soft smile. "I don't doubt it. With little Sparky by your side, who can stop you?" She scratched the Elekid on the head. The Pokemon gave a contented and blissful smile.
There was a knock on the bedroom door. "Hello?" called Crystal's voice. "Can I come in?"
"Yes dear," said Ace's mother. "We're just making sure everything is all set."
The door opened and in stepped Crystal and Teekay. "You realize I'll get you for this..."
"Get me for what?" Ace laughed. "I probably won't be gone for that long. The chances of me actually becoming the champion are slim to nil... I'll be back before you know it."
"Oh no!" said Crystal firmly. "If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it right. Eight badges, Elite Four, Championship, come home a hero. I won't accept anything less. I'm not going to waste my time with a stallion who gives up!"
"What 'time'?" Ace was confused. "What are you talking about?"
"I am going to be your personal Pokemon Guidance coach," Crystal said proudly. "I've got my own PokeDex and Town Map from Professor Sparkle permission from my parents and Teekay."
"Abra!" Teekay said proudly.
"We're coming with you!" Crystal said firmly. "And there's no way to stop us."
"Kid?" said Spark Plug confused.
Ace wanted to protest. He wanted to say he didn't need any help. He could do this by himself. The point of this adventure was for him to grow up. He didn't need anyone to hold his hand...
But the truth was, despite his pride, he couldn't be happier. He couldn't think of any better pony to share this with than Crystal Ball. He threw his forelegs around her for a tight hug. "Thank you," Ace whispered.
Crystal hugged him back. "I couldn't let you do this alone," she said softly. "Where would you be without me?"
Ace didn't want to think about it.
The two Trainers looked at the way to Route 1. Up until this moment it had never looked so huge and daunting. They stood on the border between Spectrum City and the road, frozen solid.
"Well..." Crystal swallowed hard. "Last chance to turn back."
"No way," Ace said firmly. "We're doing this. Once we step over that line we're on our own. This is the beginning of our Pokemon journey. My League challenge. I'm not turning back now.
Crystal looked Ace. "Alright then," she said. "Together."
Ace smiled at her.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step...
They had been wandering down the road for over three hours. The road was filled with tall grass and a few wild Pokemon. It took Crystal to point out that he should be catching a few. She led Ace to a stream and handed Ace a fishing rod and a few PokeBalls. "First things first," Crystal said firmly. "Water type."
"What?" Ace asked.
"If you're going to go through this region you're going to need Surf," Crystal explained. "One of the gyms can only be reached via the water. So you're going to need a Water Type to ferry you across."
Ace took the equipment and shrugged. "Alright," he said. "Fair enough."
He sat next to the stream, cast his line, and waited. After a few moments there was a sharp tug on the line. "Whoa!" Ace shouted. "Whatever it is, this thing is huge!"
"Well reel it in!" Crystal squeaked.
"That's your idea?" Ace asked as he struggled with the line. "I was just gonna let it eat the fishing pole... What does it look like I'm doing?!"
After several minutes of fighting with the line he finally managed to yank upwards hard enough to rip the leviathan he had struggled with from it's stream. It layed upon the beach, defeated. It's body fighting to get out of the bonds of the fishing line.
"Karp! Karp!" called the Pokemon. "Magi-Magikarp-karp! Kaaaaaaaarp!"
They both looked at the flopping red fish on the shore with blank expressions on their faces.
"Throw it back," said Crystal, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We can try again with different bait."
Ace examined the Pokemon carefully. It was a male, he could tell by the longer whiskers. The readout from the Pokedex told him it was around level 10, and already knew Tackle. Once it hit level 20 something amazing would happen. Wild Gyarados are hard to come by, but they're there. Most trainers who used Gyarados caught them wild, they didn't have the patience to complete the necessary training it would take to evolve it from a Magikarp...
Ace wasn't most trainers.
He stood up, took a Pokeball out of his bag, and dropped it on the splashing Magikarp. The ball opened and transferred the Pokemon into Data. The ball shook three times and then made a loud bing This indicated that the Pokemon was caught.
Ace had successfully captured a Magikarp.
"There!" Ace smiled. "I've got my Water type, let's move on."
Crystal's jaw was on the floor. "Why?" she asked stunned. "Why did you do that? Why did you catch a Magikarp?! Magikarp is the single most pathetic Pokemon known to man!"
"I think the Karp gets a bum rap," Ace said honestly. "If you put enough work into him, I'm sure Leviathan will be a great member of the team!"
"'Leviathan'?" Crystal asked. "You named it?"
"Of course I named him!" Ace said defensively. "He's a part of my PokeCrew and thus a member of my family. He has a right to a name just like Spark Plug or Teekay! You may not believe in Leviathan, but I do. One day I will put this Pokemon in the Hall of Fame!"
"You're going to evolve him," Crystle said dryly,
"Well of course I am," Ace said. "I'm not an idiot."
"Could've fooled me," Crystal sighed. "He's got ten levels before that happens, Ace. Do you really have the patience to-"
"Probably not," Ace smiled. "But it has always been my belief that no Pokemon is useless. Every Pokemon, no matter what the species, can be useful if if cared for correctly. I'm going to make an effort with this little guy. He's going to earn his name. Leviathan. God of the Sea! Come on out, buddy!" Ace struck a pose as he hurled out Leviathan's PokeBall.
"Karp!" called the mighty Leviathan, as he flopped uselessly on the ground. "Karp Karp Magikarp karp.... Kaaaaaaarrr..."
Ace held the pose in silence.
"Let's...," Crystal started. "Let's find a Pokemon who'll actually put up a fight so I can teach you how to catch Pokemon, okay?"
"Okay... Wait, what?" Ace asked plainly. "Teach me how to catch... Did you not just see me catch a Pokemon? I already know! Is your Useless Tutorial Disease acting up again? Do they make meds for this kind of thing?
"It's just...," Crystal said sadly. "I've been a Pokemon trainer for a month, and I was the newest trainer back home, and everyone wanted to teach me things, and I appreciated that but I wanted to teach other ponies that kind of stuff for a while, and then you got Spark Plug, and I thought that would be a good time to teach you things about Pokemon training, but you've been obsessed with Pokemon training since you were a colt, so you already knew everything, so I want to teach you stuff that you already know, but I just get overexcited..." She looked directly into Ace's eyes.
She was making what Ace would refer to as "Crystal Face". This entailed a widening of the already huge eyes, a quivering lower lip, and an unusually pathetic run on sentence. It was an obvious ploy to get her way that worked on Ace every time. "What should I catch next?" he sighed.
"Well!" Crystal beamed, switching immediately from adorable sadness to adorable happiness. "I would suggest getting a Flying type! That way if you get the urge to go home you can just ride in the sky on a great big bird! So majestic..."
"Alright," Ace frowned. "Let's see... What kind of bird Pokemon live he-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!"
As he was about to say the word "here," a brown and red bird Pokemon leaped from the grass with a cry of "Sprrrooooow!!" and started pecking at Ace's head like there was candy in his skull.
"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Ace cried, running around frantically in circles. The Pokemon didn't budge an inch.
"There might be a few Spearow," Crystal said dryly.
"Thank you! For the news flash! Derpy Hooves!" Ace screamed. "Now get this freakin' thing off me!!"
"You wanna catch this thing don't you?" Crystal asked. "You have to use your own Pokemon!"
"Spark Plug is sleeping in my bag!" Ace screamed, the Spearow still pecking at his head. "Wake him up!!"
Crystal ran to the bag and woke up the sleeping Elekid. When they got back to the road they saw that little had changed about the situation. "Elekid?" Spark Plug asked.
"Long story!" Ace called. "Use Thunder Shock on this stupid bird! Get him off of my head!"
"Uh, Ace?" Crystal started. "That's not a good idea on a number of levels..."
Too late. Spark let the Electricity fly. The Spearow saw it coming and flew off his head, landing on the ground next to Spark Plug. This left Ace to take the full force of the Thunder Shock.
Ace took a long look at his Pokemon. "You missed."
"Elek...," Spark Plug giggled nervously. He was interrupted when Spearow pecked his arm hard. "Kid!"
"Be careful, man!" Ace said. "It's tougher than it looks! This thing is vicious!"
The Spearow obviously wasn't leaving. It flapped it's wings hard and puffed out it's chest. "Sproooow!!!"
Spark Plug squared off with the wild Pokemon. "Alright Crys...," Ace said. "What do we do next?"
"Well," Crystal beamed. "First you have to weaken it! Start off with heavy damage and then deal weaker attacks later."
"Ellleeeekiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid!" Spark Plug shouted, tossing a full force Electric attack at the wild Spearow. It took the hit full force and fell over. It got up and tried to make it's move, but winced. Yellow sparks shot out from its body in a few locations.
"It's Paralyzed!" Crystal smiled. "That's going to help! Now's your chance. Hit it with a Quick Attack and lob that PokeBall!"
"You heard the lady!" Ace beamed. "Quick Attack!"
Spark Plug disappeared for a moment before showing up behind the Spearow and bringing both fists down on his head. "Sprooow...," the Pokemon said weakly.
Ace took out a PokeBall and lobbed it at the bird. The Spearow disappeared into the Ball, and the ball began to shake.
1...
2...
3...
Ding.
"Yes!" Ace shouted. "I caught him! I caught the vicious little bird!" Ace jumped up and down in excitement. "Three down, three to go!"
Crystal ran over and hugged Ace. "That was awesome!" she laughed. "Are you going to Nickname it?"
"Hmm...," Ace said, considering the question. "I've called it 'Vicious' twice now. I suppose that works. Come on out, Vicious! The newest member of the future Hall of Famers!" Ace struck a pose and let his new Spearow out of his Ball.
"Sproow!" called Vicious, seemingly excited to find a worthy trainer. He tried to stand proud but staggered a bit.
"Oh...," Ace said. "We should probably get this little guy to a Pokemon center and heal him up, huh?"
The two grunts waited in silence for they're new assignment. He was due to arrive soon. What was annoying Snips was that he wasn't an admin. A friend of the Boss had asked him to train up his son. Groom him for the EPL. Some spoiled rich kid was coming, and now they had to babysit him.
And he was late.
"Where the hoof is he!" Snips growled. "He's an hour late at this point! Why do we gotta look after this kid anyhow! He's just some little spoiled numbskull..."
"Nuh uh," said Snails indignantly. "They said that this guy was supposed to be the next Champion. That way we can get to the thing that Trixie and the Boss are looking for..."
"Right," Snips scoffed. "This kid is gonna be champion. Horse hockey. This kid probably doesn't even know how to battle. I ain't gonna teach him. This brat is gonna learn the hard way that life don't come on a-"
"Kingler," came a voice from the forest. "Vicegrip."
The huge Crab Pokemon leaped from the shadows and wrapped its huge claw around Snips's throat.
The young colt stepped out from the shadows. He didn't look spoiled. He looked like he had seen a few things. He was jet black. He had a scraggly white mane. His cutie mark was a spade with a J cut out of it. What struck Snails however, was his eyes. One was brown, the other was bright green. In the green eye, instead of a Pupil was a long slit.
"Oh, please continue," he said to the choking Snips in a cold, unfeeling voice. "Really, please. Go on. I'm useless. Just spoiled. Nothing remarkable about me. rust fund babies like me are a dime a dozen. I simply don't have the skill to be the Champion. I don't have that killer instinct... What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything... Is there something in your throat?"
"Aahhhhhhkkkk!!" Snips wheezed out.
"Oh!" the mysterious Colt smacked his head. "I get what the problem is now. Alright, drop him Kingler."
Kingler dropped the Grunt on the command.
Snips collapsed to the ground and rose slowly, clutching his neck. "Who...," he coughed. "Who are you?"
"My name's Blackjack," the colt smiled. "And watch what you say from now on...
